The name of the fifth

The captive report confirmed part of Jorren's story. The five travelers had not all been taken together. One had been sold to a buyer who was looking for guides capable of reading the old roads. The other four had been detained because they could not pay for the ticket they were promised.

The drow guide was called Rilven. He had tried to negotiate their release by offering his own map, but the guards had refused. He did not know the Watchman and had not seen a House seal.

The svirfneblin, Leth, said that the buyer was wearing a red leather glove on his right hand. He had placed a stoneless ring on the table, then put it away before leaving. She couldn't tell if it was the same man Kethra had met in Veyr.

"The coat?" asked Kethra.

"Grey."

"The voice?"

"He was talking low."

"Is it him? Zaelyra asked.

Kethra sat down. "That corresponds. That's not enough to identify him."

"Do you want to pursue him?"

"Yes."

"You would go alone?"

"No. I don't know where he went, and I'm not going to invent a road to reach him."

The local council decided to send a team to the Pit to evacuate the other prisoners and collect the traces. Zaelyra was not allowed to accompany him. She had already participated in the rescue; the Vault wanted her own guards to lead the rest.

"You ask us to go back west," says Rhylor. "But we leave the fifth behind."

"We send a team to look for him," Ressa replied. "You don't know where the buyer took him."

"What if you can't find it?"

"We'll say we didn't find it."

Leth asked to participate in the research. Ressa refused. She needed to testify at the market post, so that other communities would know the method used to attract travelers.

"I can talk without naming others," she says.

"Yes. That's why you come with us, "answered Ressa.

The Vault Council also received a response from the Market of the Thresholds. Othar Vell was no longer there. He had left by the southern road the day before the group arrived. Dorga had failed to confirm whether he had left the market before or after learning that he was being investigated.

Kethra listened to the report with no visible reaction.

"Do you think he was running away? Zaelyra asked.

"I don't know."

"Would you like to find him?"

"Yes. But not with an accusation that I cannot prove."

"What if he took Saira?"

"So we will have to learn it without destroying the tracks that we have not yet verified."

Zaelyra's group could not remain in the Vault indefinitely. The council offered him two roads to the west. The first followed the old railways, faster but unstable. The second went up to a gallery closer to the Marches de Lune, longer and better known to the inhabitants.

The families gathered in the courtyard. The merchant wanted to take the railway. The wounded preferred the detour. Senn chose the longer road, which passed by the post where his father could have worked. Kethra accepted one or the other, but refused to separate from the group before the next stop.

Zaelyra put the two maps on the ground and let each one examine the differences. She didn't give her opinion first. Those who knew the charges and injuries spoke first; Nym completed with the drafts; the local guides explained the risks they could confirm.

The majority choose the long road. The merchant opposed it, then decided to stay at the Vault to wait for a caravan. He didn't want to abandon the group, but he didn't want to delay those who traveled more slowly.

"You will come back to the west? Zaelyra asked.

"If a road opens."

"We can leave a copy of both routes."

"Not the names?"

"No."

He accepted. He didn't ask him to sign the map.

Before departure, Ressa entrusted Zaelyra with a blank plaque. It had no right of way, only the name of the basin and the date of its creation.

"Why give it to me?"

"So that you can put it back at the next stop. They will decide what to engrave there."

"What if no one accepts it?"

"Then you'll bring it back."

"What if I can't come back?"

"Then someone else will do it."

Zaelyra took the plate. She put it away from the maps.

The group left for the Marches de Lune. Behind them, Ressa organized the search for the fifth traveler. In front, the long road followed an old rail line, then went up to lesser-known territories.

Kethra was walking near Zaelyra. "Do you think we'll find him?"

"I don't know."

"You say it without trying to console me."

"I don't want to give you an answer that takes away your right to continue searching."

Kethra tightened the repaired buckle in her pocket. "So let's continue."

They advanced until the light of the Forges disappeared behind the stones. For the first time, they took with them a plate that did not belong to them and a road that no one had promised them.

They had not found the Watchman.

They had found people who could now recognize each other.